CES Opens Its Doors Today. Here’s the Gear to Check Out

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA—The official first day of the CES is today. The doors open to the public, and the throngs swarm into the Las Vegas Convention Center and the surrounding expo halls to view all the latest tech products. We’ve been here for two days, so we’ve already seen quite a bit of awesome stuff. Collected here are the gadgets and gear we think are most deserving of your attention.

Share

Xcooter

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

The biggest problem with the Xcooter, unsurprisingly, is the name. But once you get over that—it may take a few minutes—the folding electric scooter is worth a look.

Produced by Miami-based Smart-Rhino, the Xcooter is meant to be a last mile solution. It’s not exactly a “scooter”—you don’t push with your feet—but it offers a sizable range of 15 miles. It can hit a top speed of 17 mph. That’s pretty quick considering how unsubstantial the Xcooter feels. But despite needing to strike a pose resembling that of a Downton Abbey character at dinner, it’s no harder to ride than a bicycle.

Once you’ve arrived wherever you were going, you can fold up the aluminum alloy, 42-pound scooter in a few seconds and wheel it into a corner or a closet. The charger resembles what you get when you buy a Toshiba, plugs into a 110-volt outlet, and can fill the Samsung-produced battery in three to four hours.

The curious scooter’s about to make its debut on the US market, and is now available for preorder for $1,499. After April 1, the price goes up to $1,799. So if you’re looking for a small, zippy ride and don’t mind the name Xcooter (or have a bumper stick to cover it up), act sooner rather than later.

BoomStick

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

You can’t hear much at CES. Well, you can hear a lot of things actually: yelling, robots, TV demos—but not the things you actually want to…which is why BoomStick was such a welcome surprise. The tiny, remote-like device plugs into your headphones or earbuds and phone or other iPod (or Zune!), and jacks up the sound. You plug it in, hit the button, and immediately get richer bass, and you definitely can hear bits and pieces of songs you normally wouldn’t with your cheap (or relatively cheap) cans. Basically, it’s a $99 solution to wanting better sound without buying expensive headphones…which, seems a little expensive, right? Well, it’s definitely cheaper than most recommended headphones, so if what you’re after is affordability, there you go. Or maybe you just like what you’re currently rocking but want a boost. Hand to god, it works: Even in the din of CES, a pair of mediocre headphones definitely—hugely—improved the sounds.

Samsung Notebook 9

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

When you pick up the new 13-inch Samsung Notebook 9 Windows 10 laptop, you may think it’s one of those weird props from Ikea. It’s really, really light. It couldn’t possibly be a real laptop. Weighing in at just 1.85 pounds—just a smidge more than an iPad Pro or a Surface Pro 4—the Notebook 9 can be configured with a Core i7 CPU and a 256GB SSD. The 13-incher even offers a pair of USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot, and Samsung claims the laptop gets up to 10 hours of battery life. There’s a 15-inch model that’s a pound heavier, but it adds a USB-C port that tops off the battery in 20 minutes. Prices haven’t been announced yet, but the ultraportable PCs are slated to ship early this year.

Gogo Wi-Fi Antenna

There are two basic problems with in-flight Wi-Fi. If you’re flying over an ocean or an area without many cell towers, it doesn’t work. And when it does work, it tends to work poorly.

Gogo, the leading provider of connectivity at 30,000 feet—its customers include Delta, American, United, and Virgin Galactic—is at CES this year showing off the technology that could finally fix those problems. Instead of an antenna on the bottom of the plane connecting with towers on the ground, the new 2Ku system connects with satellites in orbit, meaning it can deliver Wi-Fi to those aboard no matter where it’s flying. Gogo started offering satellite service back in 2012, and has now updated the technology to use two antennas, mounted on the roof of the plane.

This setup has its disadvantages: The antennas are pretty flat—they look like big plates—but they still make a bump on the roof of the aircraft, hurting aerodynamics and thus increasing fuel costs. They take about two days to install, meaning any plane getting the upgrade has to spend a less than ideal amount of time on the ground. Gogo started delivering the 2Ku system in the second half of 2015, but says that this is the year passengers will start seeing it on their flights.

Comper

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

With two devices that put a high-tech, design-minded spin on traditional instruments, Comper wants to help you have a baby. The thermometer pairs up with an app to chart ovulation cycles, mapping out the optimal times to get down to business. And the doppler fetal monitor records audio of your baby’s heartbeat while it’s in the womb, then sends the audio to an app via Bluetooth so you can share it with friends and family. As the baby develops, the app also estimates how big it is at any given time. The hardware is expected in June, and each component will sell separately for around $90. Comper says a package deal with the two devices is planned for around $150.

Phaz

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

Remember the rumor from last fall that Apple was going to kill the headphone jack in the iPhone and make you plug your ‘phones into the Lightning port? Phaz (pronounced “phrase”) gets that. Its headphones have always plugged into your phone’s data ports. By doing so, Phaz can output data to the audio components embedded in the headphones, which it says are much higher quality than anything you’ll find in your phone. It might be a bit more hassle than the headphone jack, but the upside is all sound quality. Oh, and there’s the fact that the battery in the cans can also charge your phone while you listen to music.

It has three new models this year, including its first earbuds and first Bluetooth set. They sound great, and with the Active Bass Boost mode turned on, they’ll blast your eardrums into next week. They’re not cheap—the P5 Bluetooth headphones are $449.99—but they’re definitely high-end. And they make a pretty solid case for killing your headphone jack sooner rather than later.

Withings Go

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

The Withings Go does most of what you’d expect an activity tracker to do. It counts your steps, it tracks your calories, it measures how far you’ve traveled. But you’ll be more interested in the Go for what it doesn’t do: Run out of battery.

The Go will last as much as eight months without needing a recharge. That’s an entire NBA season. It survives that long because instead of a battery-draining LCD display, the Go opts for E Ink, the kind you’ve seen in a Kindle. And like an e-reader display, you can view it direct sunlight, a handy feature for a device that’s designed for people who spend a decent amount of time outdoors.

The Go’s also water-resistant, and automatically recognizes when users start swimming rather than walking or running (although who’s to say if you start making butterfly motions on dry land). Even if it were just a simple step-tracker, though, it would be worth the $70 price tag just for the comfort of knowing you only had to plug it in once a year.

Carl Zeiss Smart Glasses

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

Remember Google Glass? Nah, best not to. In case you’re still having trouble letting go, Carl Zeiss has smart glasses that may let you finally let go. Its new system functions like Glass, but looks like, well, just plain old glasses.

That is, ultimately, the dream. The Zeiss lenses on display at CES weren’t totally seamless; you can see lines there. But they’re not any more aggressive or disruptive than a pair of bifocals. And in exchange for that minimal invasion you get augmented reality capabilities without the discomfort of looking like a techno-goon. The lenses work with a variety of frame styles, meaning applications can be either highly specialized (Think: sports) or general (Think: maps? On-demand Wikipedia entries? You decide!). All that’s needed now are partners ready to take the plunge into smart eyewear, and a public willing to move on from a distaste for and distrust of the faceputer industry.

Lego WeDo 2.0

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

Remember the Lego bricks you played with? These aren’t those. The Lego Education project combines Legos with learning, with maybe doesn’t sound as fun as creating a giant AT-AT, but is actually very, very cool and very, very smart. It combines coding and robotics projects for kids with Lego, so instead of just putting together a spaceship, you can create Mini Milo, a little one-eyed robot that you program via Lego’s learning system. As you can imagine, it’s a super easy-to-use UI, and it’s meant to be used in classrooms. The projects get harder and harder as you go on—the whole point, of course, is to integrate this type of learning into the elementary classroom. Also, you end up creating a really cute robot, so everyone wins.

Here’s The Thing With Ad Blockers

We get it: Ads aren’t what you’re here for. But ads help us keep the lights on. So, add us to your ad blocker’s whitelist or pay $1 per week for an ad-free version of WIRED. Either way, you are supporting our journalism. We’d really appreciate it.